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For the first 100 years of American life merchant shipping was the epitome of "on-the-job training." Young sailors interested in going to sea were taken aboard ship and learned practical seamanship one way or another because there was no walking off the job.
Seeking to enhance the professionalism of its merchant fleet, in 1874 the United States Congress authorized the Navy to lend ships to major port cities for use as training vessels. New York was the first state to establish a Nautical School. The Pennsylvania Nautical School was founded in 1891 and the Massachusetts Nautical School started in 1893. Over the next several decades state-funded maritime schools opened in Mine, California and Texas. Today, only the New York Nautical School survives, having evolved into the State University of New York.
The onset of World War I heightened the need for competent seamen and the United States Shipping Board created a 6-week crash course for officer training known as Free Training Schools for Merchant Marine Officers. Enrollment was limited to seamen of at least two years experience. More than 6,000 graduates were funneled into the war effort through this program.
Finally, this haphazard approach to the nation's shipping was waylaid with the passage of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 that provided for Federal training of merchant marine officers. The first class of 99 cadets entered the Merchant Marine Academy in 1938. The training was still administered on government-subsidized ships. In 1942, 90 cadets completed the four-year undergraduate program, including time at sea.
World War II necessitated emergency measures in the corps that drastically concentrated the training into eight weeks of basic training, six months at sea on a merchant ship and nine months of advanced shore training. More than 20,000 cadets went through the accelerated training. Manning Allied shipping during the war put mariners directly on the front lines. More than 8,000 seamen were killed at sea and another 11,000 wounded. Among them were 142 Merchant Marine cadets whose ships were torpedoed or bombed. Another 68 men were killed after completing the accelerated program.
Acts of heroism among the United States Merchant Marine cadets abounded at sea during World War II, forging a legacy for future Academy graduates. Seven cadets received the Distinguished Service Medal, the Merchant Marine's highest award emblematic of "heroism beyond the call of duty."
In 1943 the various merchant marine training facilities were consolidated at the former Walter Chrysler estate in Kings Point, on New York's Long Island. At the dedication of the campus on September 30, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that "the Academy serves the Merchant Marine as West Point serves the Army and Annapolis serves the Navy."
Today. the Merchant Marine Academy stands as one of the five American service academies, providing an accredited four-year college program culminating in a Bachelor of Science degree in marine transportation or marine engineering, a merchant marine officer's license, and a United States Naval Reserve Commission. Students, who obtain entrance through Congressional appointment, spend one year at sea on commercial ships. Enrollment is maintained around 950; about 10% are women.
Visitors can also visit the Merchant Marine Academy campus in King's Point and soak up merchant marine history at the American Merchant Marine Museum.
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